Official: New Canon 5Ds and 5DsR Get Closer to Medium Format with Massive 50.6MP Sensors

Well, we’ve all heard the rumors, read the specs before, seen the leaked photos and today it gets real – Canon are officially in the megapixel race to maximise the potential of the 35mm full frame sensor potential. I don’t know if any of this will have any benefit or impact to those wanting to shoot video with these new DSLR’s, and probably not, but its worth to point out that this move from Canon is a clear sign of segmentation in their lineup of DSLR’s – they already have the Cinema EOS line, and now we’re seeing another separation within the 5D line – the 5DS and 5DSR are strictly for high-end photography, while the upcoming 5D Mark IV will be targeting video shooters amongst other types of photographers needing excellent low-light performance, full frame, and higher fps. The new 5Ds and 5DsR (the only difference in the R model being the lack of low pass AA filter for even sharper images, but at the expense of more moire/aliasing artifacts) are specifically geared towards studio, commercial, fine art, landscape, architectural, portrait and wedding photographers who demand higher resolution photographs for their line of work..

As Canon put it – “…the EOS 5DS represents the ultimate combination of EOS performance and ultra-high megapixel capture. Joining the EOS 5DS is the EOS 5DS R, which adds an LPF* (low-pass filter) cancellation effect, for specialized applications where pixel-level sharpness and detail are desired…”

See the official pictures, photos and videos below for the 5DS and 5DSR.

Introducing the Canon EOS 5DS and EOS 5DS R

A Day in Tokyo – Time Lapse Movie with the Canon EOS 5DS/5DSR DSLR

Features and Highlights

Full-frame 35mm 50.6MP CMOS sensor

EOS Scene Detection System

252-zone TTL metering

61-point high density reticular AF with 41 cross-type AF points

ISO range 100-6400

User-selectable shutter release lag time

Shutter speed 30-1/8000 sec

Flash sync 1/200 sec

Anti-flicker

Intervalometer and Bulb timer

1.3x, 1.6x crop options

Full HD 1080/30p video

5fps burst rate

3.2-inch, 1,040k dot LCD monitor

Face recognition during Live View

External mic jack

USB 3.0 Support

Customizable control screen

Pre-orders are soon to be made available via B&H and Adorama, with prices of $3,699 and $3,899 respectively.

Sadly, the video features on these beasts, have been crippled once again maxing out at 1080p and 30fps, but that’s to be expected due to the segmentation occurring within the product line. We’ll have to wait until the Fall to see the 5D Mark IV, which will hopefully feature 4K recording on board. Until then, it’s Sony’s turn, who are rumored to announce their mega-MP rivals next week. For more details on the 5Ds and 5DsR head over to Canon here.